The last chapter of Esther is a very short piece of text informing the reader where they can read more about the deeds of King Ahasuerus and Mordecai, his second-in-command. All the acts of Ahasuerus and Mordecai were written in a book called the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia.

Thanks to the decree of Esther and Mordecai, on the day the Jews were to be killed, they were prepared to fight back. They defended themselves against their enemies and were assisted by the local governors. The fighting lasted two days in Susa, and the Jews defeated all those who opposed them. After the fighting, Mordecai decreed that the Feast of Purim be celebrated annually to memorialize the Jew’s salvation.

After the king put Haman to death, Mordecai was elevated to his vacated role in the government. While the king’s first decree couldn’t be revoked, Esther and Mordecai wrote a second decree permitting the Jews to arm themselves and defend themselves against any hostile force that came against them.

In Esther 7, we see the tables turned and the script flipped on the evil Haman. At Esther’s second feast, she exposed Haman by revealing that she was a Jew, and asked the king to spare her life and the life of her people from Haman’s extermination plot. When the king realized Haman’s evil, he ordered him to be arrested and hung him on the gallows that were originally intended for Mordecai.

Esther 6, God’s providence is on full display as He thwarts the plan of Haman to kill Mordecai. Rather than getting to kill Mordecai, King Ahasuerus makes Haman parade Mordecai through the streets in honor as a reward for saving him from the violent plot of Bigthan and Teresh (2:19-23).

In Esther 5, Esther appeared before King Ahasuerus to counter Haman’s plot to kill her people. Before stating her intentions, she invited the king and Haman to two private feasts. After leaving the first feast, Haman was disrespected again by Mordecai, and he became furious. Together with his wife and friends, Haman put together a plan to hang Mordecai the next day.

After Haman’s decree to murder all the Jews in Esther 3, Esther 4 tells of Mordecai’s grief, and his attempt to convince Esther to go to the king of her people’s behalf. Esther was afraid because a person could be killed for entering the king’s presence without a royal invitation. But Mordecai finally convinced her and suggested that perhaps she was elevated to the throne of Persia for this special moment.

In Esther 3, King Ahasuerus promoted an evil man named Haman to the top of the government. When Mordecai refused to bow to Haman and pay him homage, Haman put together a plot to slaughter Mordecai and all his people, the Jews (this would have included Esther). The king, unaware of what Haman was really doing, gave Haman permission to execute the evil plan.

Four years after the events of Esther 1, following a failed military campaign in Greece, Ahasuerus returned to Susa. In order to find a new queen, many beautiful young women were brought to the king for his selection. He decided on a young Jewish woman named Esther. Esther was an orphan who had been raised by her cousin, Mordecai. At the end of the chapter, Mordecai saves King Ahasuerus by reporting on a violent plot he overheard from the king’s guards.